Age-old Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

A bone-chilling occult nightmare movie from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an ancient horror when unfamiliar people become conduits in a malevolent trial. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of endurance and ancient evil that will revamp terror storytelling this spooky time. Directed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy suspense flick follows five unknowns who arise isolated in a unreachable cabin under the sinister control of Kyra, a cursed figure haunted by a two-thousand-year-old ancient fiend. Get ready to be enthralled by a screen-based journey that weaves together bodily fright with ancient myths, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a mainstay trope in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the forces no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This represents the most primal layer of the players. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the tension becomes a soul-crushing fight between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five young people find themselves caught under the ghastly dominion and haunting of a obscure person. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to evade her curse, marooned and chased by entities beyond reason, they are thrust to deal with their worst nightmares while the countdown unceasingly ticks onward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and alliances disintegrate, coercing each figure to doubt their true nature and the nature of decision-making itself. The tension intensify with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that fuses occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into primitive panic, an power that predates humanity, influencing soul-level flaws, and highlighting a force that strips down our being when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant channeling something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the curse activates, and that shift is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers in all regions can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Witness this haunted fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these unholy truths about mankind.


For sneak peeks, production news, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate melds archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Beginning with survivor-centric dread steeped in old testament echoes and including series comebacks as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated together with intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, simultaneously streamers saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with scriptural shivers. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner opens the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching fear calendar year ahead: entries, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A busy Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The fresh scare year builds from day one with a January glut, from there carries through midyear, and pushing into the year-end corridor, combining IP strength, original angles, and smart release strategy. Distributors with platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that position horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has grown into the bankable option in annual schedules, a pillar that can accelerate when it performs and still protect the downside when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can lead the national conversation, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The upswing translated to the 2025 frame, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers made clear there is a market for many shades, from returning installments to fresh IP that travel well. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across studios, with intentional bunching, a mix of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated attention on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and platforms.

Planners observe the space now functions as a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can debut on numerous frames, furnish a clean hook for marketing and vertical videos, and outpace with ticket buyers that line up on previews Thursday and continue through the next pass if the title works. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping demonstrates confidence in that logic. The year gets underway with a stacked January run, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a autumn push that stretches into the fright window and past the holiday. The arrangement also shows the greater integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and grow at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just rolling another sequel. They are trying to present continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a new tone or a casting pivot that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on material texture, practical gags and distinct locales. That alloy provides 2026 a smart balance of home base and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a classic-referencing framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push centered on franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue mass reach through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that grows into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to replay eerie street stunts and snackable content that melds affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are branded as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven treatment can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build materials around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can boost premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries near launch and turning into events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a staged of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 sequence with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern mix and grade. have a peek at these guys Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years frame the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not block a parallel release from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to link the films through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s have a peek here past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which match well with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that filters its scares through a little one’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan tethered to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.